RV FEATURE
POWER TOOL BATTERIES
A mate of mine has a small business ( Slade International ) making custom devices to fit the most popular power tool batteries . We considered the idea of using these batteries to partially recharge a solar generator . This may seem futile but consider that a Ryobi 18V 5Ah battery holds 90W hours of charge . That ’ s enough power to run a small car fridge for two to three hours .
So he made me an adapter to convert the output of a Ryobi battery to a standard Anderson plug . I connected it to the DC input of a Bluetti AC2A solar generator and it worked , recharging at a rate of 124W !
I will admit this is not the most efficient way to recharge a solar generator , but if you desperately need to run a 240V device and your solar generator is running low on power and you have no other options , this could get you out of trouble , at least for a short time .
Using a Ryobi power tool battery to recharge this Bluetti AC2A
The Victron Orion 12 / 24-20 will recharge most solar generators at around 400 watts
ECOFLOW ALTERNATOR CHARGER
I ’ ve saved the best until last . EcoFlow has just released its proprietary car alternator charging solution for its Delta Series of solar generators . Unlike the DC-DC converter we looked at earlier , this comes with all the wiring , fuses and connectors ready to install into your vehicle . All you do is connect the input wires to your car ’ s battery , run the cable to where you store your EcoFlow power station , mount the Alternator Charger , connect the output to your EcoFlow unit and you ’ re done .
The Alternator Charger is compatible with the EcoFlow smart device app where you can control all aspects of its operation , including varying the charge rate . This can be very useful if you have a smaller car with a low-output alternator .
50 \